Fiver:
Hi! We are in great need of an affordable off-the-shelf Windows or Linux software package that can be easily configured to perform inverse kinematics control of a new 7 DOF (degrees of freedom) arm we have developed. Although we are still in the starving development stage with this, we hope to be able to introduce our arm commercially, in which case non-commercial-use software will not help us here. Very simply, we want to be able to direct the arm by merely directing the gripper point and therefore have the motions required by the various joints worked out by the IK (inverse kinematics) software. An added bonus would be to be able to describe various corridor of motion constraints on where the arm can physically operate for a specific task and have the software work out the necessary joint movements in such a way as to not violate those corridor of motion constraints. On certainly our basic IK need, and perhaps our "bonus" need as well - can you help direct us?

Admin:
Ouch . . . not a simple thing . . .

What types of joints do you plan to have? Since the IK depends on your joints, you may have to get it custom made.

You may benefit from contacting the various manufacturers of robot arms and ask about software.

The prof who taught me all about robot arms including deriving IK is Matt Mason, now the director of the CMU Robotics Institute. He literally wrote the book on robotic manipulation. If anyone could direct you it would be him. He is a busy guy, so just send him a quick email to be directed . . .